I've installed WAVES Ultimate 15 v25.05.27 and asking myself how does the V.R version actually works. Unlike the R2R version (v.2024.12.18), V.R requires that WAVES Central also be installed, which is usually necessary for licensing and must remain installed at all times.

Is there perhaps a risk that WAVES might deactivate the license in the future? Is that possible?

 

Reminder!

 

There are many releases which require the developers "software manager" to be installed on the system. The plugins only check to see if it is installed on the system. The plugins have no way of using the application to then connect outward to internet domains/ip addresses because the software manager app is not running. Firewall the software manager application too, and you will never see alerts from your firewall of the software manager app attempting outbound connections. Unless you actually run it.

The plugins themselves are what attempt to connect outbound. You will see that traffic attempted by either your DAW application, or other system processes which are already running. To avoid the actual installer sending outbound traffic, you can either disable internet during installation, or firewall in the installer application. Some firewalls will complain about not being able to block installer applications because they aren't installed yet. The simple answer to that is to make sure the installer is located on the system volume, and then firewall it in. A common way for Mac installers to end up with that situation, is by the installer package to be located in a .dmg disk image which first must be mounted to access the pkg file. You just copy the .pkg file and launch that from the local disk.

A good example of an R2R release and the plugins which require the "software manager" application to remain on the system disk is Korg Software Pass. It just needs to be on the system installed, but you never let it connect outward. In cases where anything manages to make an outbound connection and deauthorize the plugins, you usually just have to uninstall, cleanup, and reinstall.

 

I haven't used pirated plugins since last year, but from experience it's the best thing you can do to use it, you know, with the VR patch. You install waves central with any type of account you have. Download everything you want and apply the patch, ready to go. If you want and prefer, you can remove Waves Central, so you won't notice the update notification. The notification is not bad, but once you click on it, it deactivates the V.R. patch. It's not a problem either, just put the patch back on and that's it.

Now my recommendation is that you install waves central, create an offline pack with everything you want to install (you do it in waves central) it creates what you want and leaves you a copy of waves central You used the offline installer, and then when you're offline, you follow the same process and that's it. If you ever want to go back online and don't want to have any update issues, Simply uninstall waves central and you won't receive any notifications or VR patch deactivation. At least in my experience it was better that way because A custom installer with the plugins you want and the versions you want v11, v12, v13 etc etc. I hope this helps you.

 

Yes, this does work. However when in WC (with your offline/online package) and making selections on what you want (or don't want) to install, when you finally press the install button, WC will install EVERYTHING in the package regardless of what selections you made earlier. Somewhat annoying... You can go back after the fact and eliminate the extraneous stuff, but it's an extra tedious step that could be avoided if the installer would just do what it is told...

 

What I did..

Installed Waves Central
Login
Then installed from Offline Package (which already downloaded - VR)
After completing the installation,
Open the Firewall and block Waves Central outbound connection.
Everything is working smoothly.